Rodney Gedda's piece of the Web

What airline Wallabies?

People who have been watching the 2007 Rugby World Cup would no only too well that two of the tournaments draw card teams – Australia and New Zealand – were unceremoniously bundled out in the quarter finals.

That’s bad news if you’re an Aussie or Kiwi but what if you’re a multi-national corporation who has dropped many millions on a sponsorship of either team?

As marketing guru Derek Evans once told me there are things you do when entering into a sponsorship and there are things you don’t do. Hmmm… let me think which don’t best applies to Qantas right now. How about:

Never put your name on anything that might crash, sink, or come second.

How’s my memory Derek? That golden rule may well over simplify Qantas’ rugby marketing campaign but it certainly raises questions over how much value it can derive from the sponsorship with its team out of the world cup compared to if it, let’s say, won the cup and the associated glory of having its brand basking in the global media coverage alone.

Ah well, it wasn’t to be. And I have to put up with bad jokes from the pom at work who watched his first rugby game when England beat Australia over the weekend.